Negligence :  Damages –  Pharmaceutical Error  –  Aggravating Circumstances

Where the family of a woman who died because she took the wrong medication sued the pharmacy that admitted negligence in filling the prescription, the trial court erred in granting the defendant a directed verdict regarding the availability of damages for aggravating circumstances because the plaintiffs presented sufficient evidence to support a jury award for aggravating circumstances based on a pharmacist’s failure to review the high-alert prescription before dispensed, the pharmacy technician’s receipt of the new prescription by telephone, which did not meet Missouri law requiring a high level of supervision, the failure to require counseling of patients regarding new prescriptions for high-risk medications and the failure of the pharmacy to change its procedure following the death.

Judgment is reversed and remanded.

Oyler v. Hy-Vee, Inc. (MLW No. 71124/Case No. WD79742 – 14 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Ahuja, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Buchanan County, Judah, J. (Leland F. Dempsey, Kansas City, Missouri, and Michael W. Manners, Lexington, for appellant) (Jeffrey A. Kennard, Steven G. Brown, Susan F. Robertson and J. Zachary Bickel, Kansas City, Missouri, for respondent).

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